An inferno amongst the glaciers
by Rhaegal Nymeria Stark
Summary: Another installment of my "Azula saga." Apparently, Aang's life is in danger again. Turns out burning Katara's hands wasn't such a good idea after all, and Azula intends to avenge her. Implied future Azutara. Takes place before the rest of my Azula fics, except for "Trust, stupidity, what's the difference?" and "The devil within" Takes place two years after those stories.


Disclaimer: Own nothing

Summary: Apparently, Aang's life is in endanger _again_. Turns out burning Katara's hands _wasn't _such a good idea after all.

Takes place before all the other stories except for "Trust, stupidity, what's the difference?," and "The devil within."

Note: I own nothing but several OCs of mine and this story.

**Based on the episode "The deserter," in Book one, scroll of water.**

**Takes place two years after the Gaang first removes Azula from prison to start her rehabilitation.**

**An inferno amongst the glaciers:**

Static could be heard throughout the frigid air. Blue and white lightning shot through the sky, making the whole front of the glaciers glow eerily as Water Tribesmen, women and children alike fled the scene, watching in horror as their "guest" displayed her wrath yet again-a wrath that many in the Fire Nation hadn't seen in almost two years, a wrath that they would have been grateful to not lay witness to now. At least this time her rage seemed to be only focused on one individual in particular; the Avatar, Aang.

Many of the Water Tribe citizens were very shocked by what they were watching. While the firebender they had been….well, sort of "hosting" had usually been crude and hostile, she had never actually attacked anyone outside of sparring and practicing, and those times had never been intentionally dangerous as far as anyone who perceived the scene could tell. This was a very recent thing to happen and it was horrifying.

The very frantic airbender ran, faster than perhaps any time he had run before. He bended the air under his legs, propelling him faster across the frozen landscape, snow shooting out from under his catapulting legs and hurricane like wind twisting and flourishing beneath him. The young monk looked behind him every now and then, gulping at the sapphire flames being summoned and stoking hotly against the glaciers as the Fire Nation princess ran after him, a homicidal glint in her golden eyes-telling the Avatar exactly what she was going to do to him when she caught up to him…..as if the fire and the lightning wasn't enough of an indication for him.

"When I get ahold of you, Avatar!" Azula snarled, blood thirst incredibly evident in her tone as she rushed at the escaping teenager.

The air nomad grit his teeth together, panic overtaking him as he leapt from one icy peninsula to the other, never once letting up speed, and neither did the princess, on his heels, feet literally on fire, body while sheathed in light blue Water Tribe garb, was surrounded by blue flames, the snow under her melting within seconds and becoming part of the sea.

Katara and Sokka emerged from one of the tiger-seal huts, both looking alarmed, Gran-Gran following behind them. Katara's eyes widened when she saw Azula tailing Aang, her hands and feet ablaze and lightning firing from her fingertips, appearing positively chaotic, contrasting completely to the Water Tribe clothing the Firebender had on. The waterbender noticed her father observing from the point of where the ice cape had been incinerated.

"Dad!" She yelled, causing Hakoda to turn around, "What happened? Why is Azula trying to….?"

The waterbender didn't even finish her sentence as she and her brother ran to where their father was, Katara looking at the azure water in front of them, ready to use it to restrain the now berserk princess.

Hakoda spoke, disbelief in his voice, "Well, Aang and I were talking and Aang apologized to me for what happened when he was first learning how to firebend from the Fire master, Jeong Jeong…and mentioned that he accidently burned your hands." Hakoda's voice ended with a hard edge and Katara turned and stared at him.

Her blue eyes became even wider. "He told you about that?" She exclaimed, "And Azula heard?"

The Water Tribe chief nodded, "She was practicing martial arts with one of the Northern Water Tribesmen and she heard what Aang said about burning your hands and she just snapped. I must confess, I almost reacted the same way she did when I heard him say that. Only with a machete to his head." Hakoda let the growl out of his mouth and Katara sighed turning to where the furious firebender was chasing the still terrified Avatar.

Katara, to be perfectly honest, had no idea how to comprehend this. The idea that Azula was attacking Aang to….to _avenge _her was almost impossible to imagine. Azula…the waterbender shook herself out of her thoughts and reminded herself that she had to save her friend.

"Right," Katara snapped, "Let's go, Sokka." The Water Tribe warrior next to her nodded, though he appeared apprehensive. They both quickly ran to the other side of the island. Katara called for the other waterbenders; students that had come from the Northern Water Tribe. Several young men and young women, all waterbenders followed, knowing what was expected of them.

The group moved fast, finding Appa standing on the other end, letting a small group of children play with the fur on his tail as a bunch of others were messing with his head fur.

"Appa!" Sokka yelled, alerting the sky bison, and the large beast lifted his head and looked at the siblings and the rest of the waterbenders approaching.

"Everyone steer clear!" Katara called to the children and the two small bushels of gatherings moved out of the way, running off to the rest of the tribe as Sokka and Katara climbed into the saddle on the bison's back. The rest of the waterbenders followed. Soon Appa's whole saddle was crowded with Water Tribesmen. Sokka went to Appa's head and sat down and grabbed the leather reins tied around the bison's huge, sharp black horns and was about to order the bison to fly off when a spoke out behind him, "Sokka, let me talk to her when we get there."

The Southern Water tribe male jumped on the saddle, and turned around. Sitting behind him was Nylutha, a young Northern Water Tribe warrior of seventeen with blue eyes paler than Katara and Sokka's own, and a head of almost black shaggy hair almost reaching her waist. She appeared as frantic as the Southern Water tribe siblings did as she talked.

"Please," the young bender implored, "I was the one Azula was sparring with before this happened. I think maybe I can help calm her down."

"Great idea," Sokka admitted, grinning, "The more the better. At least you'll have a better chance of not getting your butt singed. She actually likes you."

Neither Nylutha nor Sokka saw it, but behind the Water Tribe chief's son, Katara's lower jaw clenched at her brother's words and she bit the inside of her right cheek, eyes darkening. She turned away, not wanting to have to glance at Nylutha at all. She didn't know why Sokka's words had affected her like this. She had no clue why the idea of the Fire Nation princess liking Nylutha…..or really _anyone _sent such vexation through her, but a part of her wanted to explode at the very thought.

Katara distanced herself so much from the conversations past between the waterbenders as they were about to take off that she barely even felt the movements of Nylutha walking up till she was sitting down next to Katara, nearly at Appa's head.

Katara glared at Nylutha's, doing it in such an inconspicuous way that no one could tell but said nothing. Sokka called out, "Yip yip!" Appa groaned out and lifted above the water. Sokka shouted, "After Aang and Azula!" The sky bison growled out again and shot off in the direction of the two exuberantly moving benders, gliding over the whole tribe and the rest of the glaciers as he moved.

The group of Water Tribe members spotted two sources of power up ahead. One was a barreling gust of wind shooting from one glacial mass to the next with the speed of a rabbit-cheetah, the other a running, hurdling inferno of cobalt fire pursuing the first evasive figure with a zealous hate that would scare even Koh the Face Stealer.

"There they are!" Nylutha cried.

"You don't say." Sokka said dryly as they closed in.

As they were only inches from the two moving benders, Azula heels went aflame and she began lifting herself above the icecaps, throwing sapphire fireballs at the still running Aang. Aang checked over his shoulder and yelped, seeing the fireballs careen towards him and jumped out of the way desperately.

"I bet Aang wishes he had his glider with him." Katara grumbled, remembering that the airbender left it in the Fire Nation, thinking he wouldn't need it. She then looked over at the other waterbenders lined up behind her on Appa and nodded in affirmation. They nodded back. They knew what to do. They had been given very specific instructions, should this happen.

All of the waterbenders stood up on Appa's saddle and waved their arms, water around the glaciers beginning to shift and move. Soon water spurted out of the sea, whirling around at their masters' command and surrounded both the mad firebender and the Avatar.

Azula, seeing the water halted in her steps on one ice field, three feet from Aang who had also stopped, startled. The sloshing globules and serpentine shapes of water went past Aang and surrounded the firebender who was backing away. The amber eyed warrior glared up at Appa, staring hard directly at Katara. The Southern Water Tribe woman just looked back with an unyielding determination.

The large ribbons of water spindled around the fire wielding princess, each mass of liquid wrapped around her limbs and upper torso; her fire being extinguished in the process. The princess hissed, opening her hands and the lightning that had been blasting out of her hands disappeared.

The waterbenders all moved their arms again and the princess was lifted from the icy plain where she had been standing and was now carried up in front of Appa. Azula scowled at all of them. Nylutha chose that time to step closer to Appa's horns and faced the firebender, still manipulating the water to her will.

Katara glared at Nylutha again, but said nothing.

The Northern Water Tribe woman called, "Azula, why did you attack the Avatar? What happened?"

The princess glared angrily. "You know very well, waterbender!" She growled, "You heard what _Aang _said just as well as I did!" She spat out the Avatar's name and Aang winced. He had been hoping to hear her call him by his actual name for a couple of years now….this was _not _how he had been hoping she would come to say his name. The firebender continued to spit out, "He burned Katara's hands!"

Katara almost couldn't restrain the smile that was daring to spread on her face. She heard her father say that Azula had reacted to Aang apologizing to him in the first place about the accident he caused nearly three and a half years ago when he had burned her, but having it confirmed first hand by Azula herself made the waterbender's heart skip a beat.

"It was just an accident, Azula." Katara spoke up, standing then next to Nylutha, ignoring the other Water Tribe woman's eyes on her, "Only an accident. Aang didn't know how to handle fire and he was still young and was just excited when he realized he could start firebending. He just didn't know what he was doing."

Azula's eyes only became a darker shade of gold in her anger. "Then he shouldn't have been using fire at all!" She snapped. She turned and glared at the still nervous Avatar as she was suspended above the glaciers and sea, "Do you understand, Avatar? Fire is a weapon! You only learned that _after _you burned your _friend?!_ You should have known that after finding your fellow air nomads' remains at the Southern Air Temple!"

In seconds everyone tensed and Aang apparently lost his ability to bend air as he lowered himself to one of the glaciers, all wind gone and he glared up at Azula, eyes full of anger and pain.

"Azula!" Katara cried, staring at the other bender in outrage and disbelief.

Sokka rolled his eyes but was also glowering at the princess. He grumbled, "Leave it to Azula to say something almost touching and then say something completely cruel and insulting three seconds later."

Katara chuckled mirthlessly. That was stating the obvious. It was an odd charm about the firebending royal that she couldn't really pin point.

"Right," Nylutha said, glancing at Katara, "Do you think we should bring her back to the tribe or is she too erratic right now?"

Katara wanted to remain annoyed at Nylutha but the Northern Water Tribe woman had a point. She looked at Azula. The fire and the lightning were both gone…for now. And now that the cause for Azula's rampage was found, they could try to calm her enough so that she wouldn't start melting their home again.

"I think it's okay," Katara answered, though her voice held some degree of unease and she looked Azula in the eyes, "Azula, promise us you won't try to incinerate Aang again and that you'll keep your firebending under control when we get back, alright?"

Appearing positively vexed at Katara's demand, she glared again at Aang and growled, looking back at the waterbender, "Whatever. Do what you want. I think this moron got my point."

Katara, Sokka, Nylutha and all the other waterbenders looked at each other nervously but they all silently agreed. It wasn't as if they could keep the princess here. They moved their arms and Azula was transported to Appa's back with them, placing her down onto the saddle, the water being bended away from her and out of her clothing; drying her effectively and they dropped all the water back into the sea, causing a couple of fairly big waves.

Azula, now sitting in part of the saddle, Water Tribe clothes void of liquid because of the waterbenders in front of her, laid her left elbow on her left knee as she brought the said knee to her chest, her right leg left to splay on the saddle's floor as she kept her dirty looks aimed at Katara. The waterbender scowled back and then glanced down at Aang.

"Hey, Aang, are you okay?" She asked, watching the Avatar's still wounded face.

The airbender looked at his friend, still not quite processing her question, the agony of what Azula's insult hurt him far worse than any of her lightning or fire.

"Yeah," He mumbled, "I'm good. Let's go." He didn't even bother projecting himself up to Appa, just summoned air under his legs and the small tornado below him launched him back towards the Southern Water Tribe.

Sokka watched and steered the reins on Appa again and the sky bison followed his master and friend back to the tribe. As the sky bison flew, Azula kept the angry scowl on her face but that didn't keep Nylutha away. She got closer and kneeled down next to the other woman, not noticing that Katara's eyes were glued to her back as she walked. She glanced at where one of the sleeves of the firebender's garbs was singed away and noticed a burn that was turning red on the Fire Nation princess's right arm. Nylutha's eyes became big.

The waterbender turned around and looked at the others. "She's hurt!" She cried, startling them all, "She burned herself or something!"

In seconds, Katara and a couple other waterbenders were in a genuflect position before the golden eyed woman. The Water Tribe members' arms started moving again and water from the ocean rose up once more and glided above Appa, readying to heal the wound on the princess's arm.

Azula glared, growling, "I don't need healing. It's just a little mark."

"And risk it getting infected?" Katara snapped, "Listen, I know you don't think you need help, but at least let me do it for trying to "avenge me" for me getting burned. I owe you." Katara knew she shouldn't be using this route to get Azula to do what she asked, but given that enough drama had occurred today, she'd like to get through the rest of the day without incident.

Azula lifted an eyebrow at the brown haired woman before offering her injured arm, showing the burn. Katara and the other waterbenders commanded the water to slide over the princess's wound, the water started glowing and Azula felt the familiar sensation of the mending, gazing at her arm. The liquid was drawn away from her now repaired limb, no injury visible-as if she had never burned herself in the first place.

"There, see?" Katara asked, smirking, "All done. That wasn't so hard, was it?" She tried not to laugh at Azula's scowl. She thought of saying something else when she noticed out of the corner of her eye, Yakonna, another Northern Water tribe woman with black hair and brown eyes nodding over to her, urging her to come over to her.

Katara glanced at Azula and then got up, walking over to the other waterbender. Once Katara was in front of Yakonna, the brown eyed bender spoke softly so only the two of them could hear, "Katara, I'm sorry, but I don't know if you should have done that." At Katara's perplexed stare, Yakonna held her hands up defensively and added quickly, "Not healing her, I mean using the whole "I owe you" thing. It's just that didn't the doctors tell you that Azula was supposed to be taught compassion? Doing things for other people because they could and it's the right thing? Not because you're obligated to?"

Katara sighed, shoulders slumping. She knew that she'd regret saying that to Azula. Yakonna was a smart young woman. She knew how therapy worked. She actually had contact with the people in the North Pole who were as close as possible to therapists and knew how it worked. Azula's whole 'mindset' worked around the idea of obligation and duty and power. The solution was to work around that mindset and help her see that owing people and people owing her wasn't a healthy way of living. Katara manipulating that mindset wasn't a good thing. Katara looked at where Nylutha was next to Azula and felt heat gather throughout her body as she watched Nylutha fawning over the firebender and turned away, refusing to let the sight affect her.

She lowered her head, shame overtaking her at what she had done just now-tricking Azula like that and sending her on the same path the firebender had been on since forever. The very thought made her ill. They had brought Azula here to get better, not make her worse.

They were now flying over the tribe and Appa lowered, large legs connecting slowly with the icy ground. "Okay!" Sokka exclaimed, smiling, "Crisis averted, and everyone gets off here."

Aang glided up onto the ground next to Appa, and all of the Water Tribe members jumped off of the bison's back, Azula following suit, black Water Tribe fur boots hitting the ice with ease, though there were some burn holes in the boots' sides and toes. Azula scowled down at the shoes. She was going to go have to…ask Mya and Ailia; two expert seamstresses of the tribe to repair these boots. She followed the others.

Aang was avoiding everyone's eyes, and Katara viewed her friend sympathetically. Deciding to attempt to offer him some tranquility, she walked over to him.

"Aang," She spoke, catching his attention, "Don't feel bad about what happened with me when you were learning from Jeong Jeong. Yeah, maybe you should have been more careful, but it was an accident and I forgave you for it a long time ago. What Azula said about the Air Nomads; that was just awful. I know we should have seen that coming, but still…,"

Aang shrugged offering a sad smile. "I'm glad you're not too angry, Katara," He said, though the words sounded empty, "And I mean, this is something out of the ordinary, right? When has Azula actually caused an incident like this? And for _you_, Katara."

Katara blinked, surprised by the remark but then thought about it. Come to think of it, Aang was right. Azula had lived here on and off for six months for almost two years now, _without _incident. This was the first time there was a real actual problem. Sure, the princess had threatened, she had mocked, she had insulted and snarled, but that had been it. There had been no real evidence that she had intended to hurt anyone, till now, and it had been to avenge the pain of someone that had previously been an enemy two years before hand.

In some morbid, twisted way that was indeed impressively progressive for Azula. Bizarre how that worked out.

Katara laughed, realizing just how warped the whole thing was. "Yeah, I see your point, Aang." She then grimaced, "Still…what she said….I'm going to talk to her."

The Avatar observed his friend turn and walk away. He spoke up before she could leave, "Katara….why do you think she did that? Why do you think she tried to kill me for something that happened three years ago? Why does she care so much?"

Katara turned back to the younger bender, appearing confused. "Care?" She replied, thinking, "I don't really think she cares." Katara was a little surprised at the disappointment she heard in her own voice, but ignored it, and though it appeared that Aang heard it too, he chose to not acknowledge it either, "I think she just sees it as an obligation. I'm trying to heal her. She just sees it as an opportunity to pay me back."

Katara smiled in resignation and turned, walking towards the main part of the village, ready to reprimand Azula for her harsh words….not to mention for trying to kill one of Katara's best friends.

Aang's eyebrows lifted at the Katara's words, the waterbender's sentence echoing in his ears. "Are you sure that's all it is?" He wondered out loud to only himself.

It seemed that while he had nearly been horribly killed, as a result Azula had unwittingly revealed that she might not be as heartless as she acted all the time.

Regardless of what the firebender had said and nearly did to him, Aang smiled at the thought.

**Okay, this thing popped up in my head out of no-where when I was re-watching the episode, "The deserter" in Book one, scroll of water. It occurred to me that in the "world" of my fics, Azula probably wouldn't be too happy when she found out about that. **

**And in case anyone was wondering, this takes place before all of my other Azula fics except for "Trust, stupidity, what's the difference?" and "The devil within." So this is still fairly early on in her rehabilitation.**

**So yeah, this just jumped into my head after watching that episode so it's a little random but I hope you liked it. **


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